"The biggest fights that Manny had are the fights that I was training him, the ones that he was following my team's training regimen, the diet, everything, so as a team, we were very successful and Manny was just blazing through the weight divisions, but Freddie decided that he wanted to take control and he thought that On Freddie Roach was on 24 hours a day, and that's when the problems became evident," stated world-class Strength & Conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who shared his thoughts on what went wrong regarding his working relationship with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach. At one point, the dynamic duo of Roach and Ariza were the hottest team in boxing, guiding fighters like Amir Khan and Manny Pacquiao to the top of their respective divisions. That was before things quickly began to unravel.
"No matter how it sounds, the truth is the truth and everybody knows that. Just look at the record and look at the performances, and that speaks volumes," Ariza explained during a recent conversation with FightHype.com. "You've been in boxing a long time, Ben, so you tell me. I mean, you have a guy that I worked with for 3 years consecutively with all the fighters, he wins Trainer of the Year for 4 consecutive years in a row, he has over 25 consecutive wins with me, and then his head got bigger than the moon and all of a sudden, he goes on a 2-year losing streak and he wants to kick me out of everybody's camp."
Indeed, as Roach gained more and more recognition for the performances of his fighters, it seemed like the problems began to arise. A Hall of Fame induction, a documentary, and a commitment to work with the 2012 U.S. Olympic boxing team meant that Roach's time would be spread thin amongst the growing number of fighters that flocked to his Wild Card gym. Naturally others, including Ariza, grew closer to the fighters as they continued to work day in and day out with them in preparation for their bouts. Whether it was jealousy or ego, for whatever reason, it appears that Roach was not keen on the idea of playing second fiddle when it came to working with his fighters. "Just look at it. He got me out of Linares's camp, he got Linares knocked out. He got me out of Senchenko's camp, he got Senchenko knocked out by Malignaggi. I mean, Malignaggi's a great puncher, but he's not a knockout guy," Ariza continued. "Amir Khan, we've had some of the biggest and best wars in boxing, and he survived and he's won them, and he got me out of that camp and he got him knocked out. He told Manny, you know, he can train himself and don't listen to me, and he got Manny knocked out. So you tell me."
According to Ariza, several fighters that Roach was working with had already expressed their concerns about his ability to properly train them. "Look at what Julio said, you know? He said that Freddie wasn't the trainer for him because physically he just couldn't do it. Amir said the same thing. Just because it's Freddie Roach, it doesn't mean it's blasphemy. There's nothing wrong with getting to a point to where you can't do it anymore. You have to know your limitations," he added. "Your limitations are starting to cause other people problems in their careers; you're jeopardizing these guys' careers because you want to believe you're still capable of doing something that you can't. That's what it is. So yes, there was a problem with us because I knew that Manny wasn't getting trained properly. He had problems with the way he was getting trained. I could see Manny getting tired. I could see Manny having problems, and Freddie wasn't doing anything to address it. He wasn't taking control and he wasn't taking charge. After 4 shitty fights, you'd think he'd figure it out and go, 'Okay, there's clearly a problem here.'"
BE SURE TO CHECK BACK SOON FOR MUCH MORE FROM ALEX ARIZA
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